Digital transmission and reception devices for transmitting and receiving streams, and processing methods thereof

ABSTRACT

A transmission system to transmit a transport stream (TS) having normal data and additional data, the transmission system including: a stream constructor to generate a TS, and a multiplexer (MUX) to insert information representing the characteristics of additional data in the TS. Therefore, it is possible for a reception system to use the additional data efficiently.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage application of PCT InternationalPatent Application No. PCT/KR2008/002722, filed May 15, 2008, and claimsthe benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0044951, filed May15, 2008 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/938,055, filed May 15, 2007 in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Aspects of the present invention relate to a digital transmissiondevice, a digital reception device, and processing methods thereof, andmore particularly, to a transmission system and a reception systemcapable of identifying a transmission mode or a reception mode usingmode information, and a method for processing a stream using the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

Since the development of digital technology, there have been efforts ofshifting from an analog broadcast system to a digital broadcast system.Accordingly, many countries have suggested diverse digital broadcaststandards. Among them, the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC)standard and the Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) standardare commonly used.

The ATSC standard adopts an 8-Vestigial Side Band (VSB) scheme, and theDVB-T standard adopts a Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex(COFDM) scheme. Thus, the DVB-T standard is strong in a multi-pathchannel (in particular, in channel interference), and can easilyimplement a single frequency network (SFN). However, since the DVB-Tstandard has a low data transmission rate, it is difficult to implementa high definition broadcast therefor. In contrast, the ATSC standard caneasily implement a high definition broadcast. Since each standard hasadvantages and disadvantages, each country is trying to compensate forthe disadvantages and suggest an optimized standard.

As portable devices have become widely distributed, efforts to view adigital broadcast using a portable device are being made. Due tofrequent mobility of a portable device, streams used for the portabledevice must be processed more robustly than normal streams. Therefore, atechnology for efficiently transmitting additional streams usingexisting digital facilities is being developed.

In greater detail, a robustly processed stream additionally insertedinto a normal stream that is transmitted to general broadcast receptiondevices is being developed, such that a portable device receives andprocess the additional stream. In this case, the additional stream canbe inserted in any form and in any place. Therefore, if a receptionsystem is not aware of characteristics on the form and/or place of theadditional stream, the reception system can receive, but not process,the additional stream.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention provide a digital transmission deviceto transmit mode information using a field sync and/or a signalinginformation channel (SIC) so that a receiving party can efficientlyprocess additional data, a digital reception device, and a method forprocessing a stream using the same.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided adigital transmission device including: an adapter to form a space forinserting additional data in a transport stream; and a processor togenerate the transport stream in which the additional data is insertedinto the space, and to insert mode information representingcharacteristics of the additional data into a field sync and/or asignaling information channel (SIC) of the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the processor mayinclude a field sync generator which generates the field sync includingthe mode information, and a multiplexer (MUX) which multiplexes thegenerated field sync with the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the processors mayinclude a stuffer which inserts the SIC including the mode informationand the additional data into the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the processors mayinclude a stuffer which inserts the SIC containing the mode informationand the additional data into the transport stream, a field syncgenerator which generates the field sync containing the modeinformation, and a MUX which multiplexes the generated field sync withthe transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the digitaltransmission device may further include a supplementary reference signal(SRS) inserter which inserts an SRS into the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationmay be information used to process the additional data or the SRS, andmay include a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type ofa used error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationincluded in the field sync may be generated by distributing the modeinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data in aplurality of field syncs.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method for processing a stream by a digital transmission device, themethod including: forming a space for inserting additional data in atransport stream; and generating the transport stream in which modeinformation representing characteristics of the additional data to beinserted into the space is inserted into a field sync and/or a signalinginformation channel (SIC).

According to an aspect of the present invention, the generating of thetransport stream may include generating the field sync including themode information, and multiplexing the generated field sync with thetransport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the generating of thetransport stream may include inserting the SIC including the modeinformation and the additional data into the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the generating of thetransport stream may include inserting the SIC including the modeinformation and the additional data into the transport stream,generating the field sync including the mode information, andmultiplexing the generated field sync with the transport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method may furtherinclude inserting a supplementary reference signal (SRS) into thetransport stream.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationmay be information used to process the additional data or the SRS, andmay include a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type ofa used error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationincluded in the field sync may be generated by distributing the modeinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data in aplurality of field syncs.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda digital reception device including: a mode information detector todetect mode information representing characteristics of additional datafrom a field sync and/or a signaling information channel (SIC) of areceived transport stream including normal data and the additional data;and a data processor to process the transport stream using the detectedmode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationdetector may restore the mode information recorded in the field sync bydemultiplexing the field sync and performing an operation correspondingto forward error correction (FEC) that a digital transmission device hasperformed for the mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the data processor mayinclude a synchronizer which synchronizes the transport stream, anequalizer which equalizes the transport stream, an FEC processor whichperforms forward error correction of the equalized transport stream, andan additional data processor which detects and restores the additionaldata from the FEC-processed transport stream based on a locationidentified by the restored mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the data processor mayinclude a synchronizer which synchronizes the transport stream, anequalizer which equalizes the transport stream, and an FEC processorwhich detects the additional data from the equalized transport streamusing the detected mode information, and performs forward errorcorrection of the additional data.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationdetector may include an additional data processor which detects andprocesses the SIC and the additional data from the received transportstream, and detects the mode information from the SIC.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the digital receptiondevice may further include a controller which, if a supplementaryreference signal (SRS) is included in the transport stream, detects theSRS from the transport stream based on the restored mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the data processor mayinclude an equalizer which performs channel equalization using the SRS.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationmay be information used to process the additional data or the SRS, andmay include a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type ofa used error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationdetector may detect the mode information by combining each mode signalarea formed in each of a plurality of field syncs.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of processing a stream by a digital reception device, themethod including: receiving a transport stream in which normal data andadditional data are mixed; detecting mode information representingcharacteristics of the additional data from a field sync and/or asignaling information channel (SIC) of the transport stream; andprocessing the transport stream using the detected mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the detecting of themode information may include demultiplexing the field sync data in thetransport stream, performing convolutional (CV) decoding of the detectedfield sync data, performing Reed Solomon (RS) decoding of the CV-decodedfield sync data, and derandomizing the RS-decoded field sync data.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the detecting of themode information may include demultiplexing the field sync data in thetransport stream, derandomizing the demultiplexed field sync data,performing convolutional (CV) decoding of the derandomized field syncdata, and performing Reed Solomon (RS) decoding of the CV-decoded fieldsync data, so that the mode information in the field sync is restored.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the processing of thedata may include synchronizing the transport stream, equalizing thesynchronized transport stream, performing forward error correction ofthe equalized transport stream, and detecting and restoring theadditional data from the FEC-processed transport stream based on alocation identified by the restored mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the detecting of themode information may include detecting the SIC area from the receivedtransport stream, and detecting the mode information from the SIC areaby processing the SIC area.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the method may furtherinclude, if a supplementary reference signal (SRS) is included in thetransport stream, detecting the SRS from the transport stream based onthe restored mode information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationmay be information used to process the additional data or the SRS, andmay include a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type ofa used error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the mode informationmay be detected by combining each mode signal area formed in each of aplurality of field syncs.

According to aspects of the present invention, mode informationrepresenting the characteristics of additional data that is transmittedtogether with normal data can be efficiently transmitted to a receptiondevice using a field sync and/or a SIC. In addition, a large size ofmode information can be transmitted and received by a combination of aplurality of fields. Therefore, the reception device can easily identifythe characteristics of the additional data and thus process a properoperation.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital transmission deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of adigital transmission device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a post-processor applied to thedigital transmission device of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync generator applied tothe digital transmission device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync generator accordingto another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of mode informationaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of mode informationaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a process of mode information accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transport streamaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a field synccontained in a transport stream according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of using a plurality offield syncs;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a digital transmission deviceaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a digital reception deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of adigital reception device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync processor appliedto the digital transmission device according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync processor appliedto the digital transmission device according to another embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of adigital reception device according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an additionaldata processor applied to the digital reception device according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream ina digital transmission device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 20 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream bytransmitting mode information using a field sync according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream bytransmitting mode information using an SIC according to an embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 22 is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing a stream ina digital reception device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital transmission deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated inFIG. 1, the digital transmission device includes an adapter 100 and aprocessor 200. The adapter 100 forms a space to insert additional datainto a transport stream to be transmitted to a reception system. Thetransport stream may be a normal data stream. The normal data stream maybe broadcast data that is transmitted and/or received by existingdigital broadcast transmission and reception systems. In addition, theadditional data represents data that is processed to be stronger inerrors than the normal data so that even portable devices on the movecan receive and process the additional data, which is also referred toas turbo data.

The processor 200 inserts the additional data into the space formed bythe adapter 100. Furthermore, the processor 200 inserts mode informationrepresenting characteristics of the additional data into a field syncand/or a Signaling Information Channel (SIC) of the transport stream. Ifthe processor 200 inserts mode information into both the field sync andthe SIC, the processor 200 may insert the same mode information ordifferent mode information into the field sync and the SIC.

That is, the additional data may be transmitted in diverse formsaccording to the size or use. Accordingly, the reception system canidentify the characteristics of the additional data and appropriatelyprocess the additional data when the reception system is notified of thecharacteristics of the additional data, such as the insertion positionand the size of the additional data. In the present disclosure,information representing such characteristics is referred to as modeinformation.

In more detail, the mode information is information used to processadditional data or a supplementary reference signal (SRS), and mayinclude a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type ofused error correction code, a primary service information, and/or, if asupplementary reference signal is contained in the transport stream, aninsertion pattern of the supplementary reference signal, informationregarding a size of the supplementary reference signal, information usedto support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.

The insertion position of the additional data may be informationrepresenting a packet of the transport stream into which the additionaldata is inserted, or information representing whether the additionaldata is inserted in a partial field of a packet or in a full packet. Inaddition, the primary service information refers to information used toreceive data to be primarily processed when diverse types of additionaldata are inserted.

The insertion pattern of the supplementary reference signal isinformation representing whether the insertion pattern is a distributepattern in which the supplementary reference signal is evenlydistributed and inserted into the transport stream, or a burst patternin which the supplementary reference signal is concentrated on andinserted into part of the transport stream. More specifically, if thesupplementary reference signal is inserted into the transport pattern,the mode information may indicate a period of packets in which thesupplementary reference signal is inserted, and the size of thesupplementary reference signal (for example, 10 bytes, 15 bytes, 20bytes, 26 bytes, etc.) as well as the position in which thesupplementary reference signal is inserted in a packet.

It is understood that the configuration of the processor 200 and theformat of the mode information may be implemented in diverse waysaccording to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of adigital transmission device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the digital transmission deviceincludes a first service multiplexer (MUX) 110, a second service MUX120, an adapter 100, a stuffer 210, a pre-processor 130, a randomizer140, a supplementary reference signal (SRS) inserter 150, an ReedSolomon (RS) encoder 160, a convolutional (CV) interleaver 170, apost-processor 180, a trellis encoder 190, a MUX 220, a field syncprocessor 310 (also referred to as a field sync generator 310), aVestigial Side Band (VSB) modulator 320, and a power amplifier 330. InFIG. 2, the remaining components other than the first service MUX 110,the second service MUX 120 and the adapter 100 are comprised in theprocessor 200.

The first service MUX 110 constructs a normal stream by receiving aninput of a Program Specific Information/Program and System InformationProtocol (PSFPSIP) table along with normal audio data and/or normalvideo data. In FIG. 2, the first service MUX 110 and the adapter 100 areillustrated as separate components, but it is understood that theoperations thereof may also be designed to be performed by a singlecomponent.

The normal stream generated by the first service MUX 110 is provided tothe adapter 100. As described above, the adapter 100 forms a space forinserting additional data into the normal stream. In greater detail, thespace is formed by emptying a portion of the packets constituting thenormal stream or by generating an adaptation field in a portion of thepackets. The adapter 100 provides the stuffer 210 with the normal streamhaving the space.

The second service MUX 120 generates an additional stream by receivingan input of additional data to be additionally transmitted. Thegenerated additional stream is provided to the pre-processor 130.

The pre-processor 130 pre-processes the additional stream so that theadditional stream is more robust. More specifically, the pre-processor130 may perform RS encoding, time interleaving, packet formatting, andso on. In addition, the preprocessor 130 may generate a place holder forinserting a parity corresponding to the additional stream. Furthermore,the pre-processor 130 may process a Signaling Information Channel (SIC)as well as the additional stream. The SIC refers to a channel forinforming detailed information regarding an additional channel fortransmitting the additional data. The SIC may exist as an independentchannel, or may be used by allocating part of a particular channel, suchas a primary service. The SIC may include additional data locationinformation, time slicing information, additional data decodinginformation, and so on. That is, when the mode information istransmitted through the SIC, the pre-processor 130 performs RS encodingand interleaving of SIC information including the mode information, andprovides the stuffer 210 with the processed SIC information. The secondservice MUX 120 and the pre-processor 130 may be implemented singly orplurally according to the amount of additional data.

The stuffer 210 inserts the data provided by the pre-processor 130 intothe space in the transport stream. That is, the additional data and theSIC data are inserted into the transport stream. Consequently, the modeinformation together with the additional data are included in thetransport stream. A block including the adapter 100, the stuffer 210,and the pre-processor 130 may be referred to as a MUX part.

The transport stream generated by the stuffer 210 is provided to therandomizer 140. The randomizer 140 randomizes the transport stream, andprovides the SRS inserter 150 with the randomized transport stream. TheSRS inserter 150 inserts a known supplementary reference signal into thetransport stream. The supplementary reference signal refers to a signalpattern that is commonly known to both the digital transmission deviceand the digital reception device. The digital reception device uses thesupplementary reference signal in order to improve the receptionperformance. In FIG. 2, the SRS inserter 150 is illustrated after therandomizer 140. However, it is understood that in other embodiments ofthe present invention, the supplementary reference signal may begenerated before the operation of the stuffer 210, and inserted into thenormal stream. Alternatively, the SRS inserter 150 can also be locatedafter the RS encoder 160.

As described above, when the supplementary reference signal is inserted,the RS encoder 160 performs RS encoding and the convolutionalinterleaver 170 performs convolutional interleaving byte by byte. Thepost-processor 180 post-processes the interleaved transport stream. Theconfiguration of the post-processor 180 is illustrated in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 3, the post-processor 180 includes a detector 181, an outerencoder 182, an outer interleaver 183, an additional stream stuffer 184,and a parity compensator 185. The detector 181 detects the additionalstream from the transport stream output by the convolutional interleaver170. The outer encoder 182 adds a parity by encoding the detectedadditional stream. The parity may be inserted into the place holdergenerated in the additional stream by the pre-processor 130. The outerinterleaver 183 interleaves the encoded additional stream. Theadditional data stuffer 184 inserts the interleaved additional streaminto the transport stream again. The parity compensator 185 compensatesthe RS parity modified by the encoding of the outer encoder 182. As aresult of the operations of the pre-processor 130 and the post-processor180, the additional stream becomes more robust than the normal stream.

In the configuration of the post-processor 180 in FIG. 3, abyte-to-symbol converter (not shown) may be added prior to the detector181, and a symbol-to-byte converter (not shown) may be added after theadditional stream stuffer 184. The byte-to-symbol converter converts theinterleaved transport stream from byte units to symbol units, and thesymbol-to-byte converter converts the transport stream from symbol unitsto byte units. Since the conversion method between byte units and symbolunits is known, a detailed description is omitted herein.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the trellis encoder 190 performstrellis-encoding of the transport stream output by the post-processor180. If a supplementary reference signal has been inserted into thetransport stream, the trellis encoder 190 prevents the supplementaryreference signal from being modified by initializing a value pre-storedin internal memories into a predetermined value. In more detail, thetrellis encoder 190 replaces an input value of two symbols (referred tohereinafter as a 2-symbol input period), right before the supplementaryreference signal is input, with a value corresponding to a valuepre-stored in the internal memories of the trellis encoder 190, andperforms an OR operation, so that each memory is reset during the2-symbol input period. The corresponding value may be the same value asor a reverse value of the pre-stored value. Parity bits for valuespre-stored in each memory are newly calculated, so the existing valuesare replaced with new values. The location of new parity may be modifiedif necessary. That is, the trellis encoder 190 modifies a value input inthe 2-symbol input section after a parity value is generated by the RSencoder 160, so the trellis encoder 190 corrects a stream into a newcodeword taking the modified value into consideration.

The transport stream trellis-encoded in this manner is output to the MUX220. The field sync processor 310 generates a field sync to be insertedinto a plurality of groups of packets, and provides the MUX 220 with thegenerated field sync. A mode signal area to record the mode informationmay be formed in the field sync. The detailed configuration of the fieldsync will be described below. The MUX 220 multiplexes the field syncinto the transport stream. In addition, the MUX 220 multiplexes asegment sync into the transport stream. The transport stream output bythe MUX 220 is VSB-modulated by the VSB modulator 320, amplified to anappropriate power by the power amplifier 330, and output through awireless channel.

As described above, the mode information can be transmitted to thereception device through an SIC and/or a field sync. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 2, one or more of the components constituting theprocessor 200 may be omitted, and/or additional components which are notillustrated may be added. In addition, the arrangement order of thecomponents may be modified.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync generator 310 thatmay be applied to the digital transmission device according to anembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the field sync generator310 includes a randomizer 410, an RS encoder 420, a convolutional (CV)encoder 430, and a symbol mapper 440. The randomizer 410 randomizes modeinformation to be included in a field sync. The RS encoder 420 and theCV encoder 430 perform RS encoding and convolutional encoding,respectively, of the randomized field sync data, and the symbol mapper440 maps the converted data using a symbol.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a field sync generator 310 thatmay be applied to the digital transmission device according to anotherembodiment of the present invention, in which the randomizer 410 may belocated between the CV encoder 430 and the symbol mapper 440. That is,the field sync data is processed in the order of RS encoding, CVencoding, randomization, and symbol mapping.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a format of mode information to betransmitted by the digital transmission device according to anembodiment of the present invention. The format in FIG. 6 is formed inbit units. The mode information in FIG. 6 includes a distributed SRSflag (1 bit), an SRS (3 bits), a full packet flag 1 (1 bit), a mode ofprimary service (5 bits), a full packet flag 2 (1 bit), and a reserved(1 bit).

The “distributed SRS flag” represents whether an SRS is inserted in adistributed pattern, as illustrated in Table 1:

TABLE 1 Item Value Burst SRS 0 Distributed SRS 1

Table 1 shows that if a value of the distributed SRS flag is 0, the SRShas been inserted in a burst pattern. Conversely, if a value of thedistributed SRS flag is 1, the SRS has been inserted in a distributedpattern.

The “SRS” in FIG. 6 represents the size of an SRS in each packet. TheSRS has a different indication according to whether the SRS is insertedin a burst pattern or in a distributed pattern, as illustrated in Tables2 and 3:

TABLE 2 In a burst pattern SRS Bytes per Packet Value  0 000 10 001 15010 20 011 Reserved 100~111

TABLE 3 In a distributed pattern SRS Bytes per Packet Value 48 000 56001 80 010 112  011 Reserved 100~111

As illustrated in Tables 2 and 3, the SRS can be expressed by diversevalues such as 000, 001, 010, and 011, and thus the value represents thenumber of SRS bytes per packet.

The “full packet flag 1” in FIG. 6 represents whether a packet includinga first byte of the additional data has an adaptive field, asillustrated in Table 4:

TABLE 4 Item Value When a packet including a first byte of 0 additionaldata uses an adaptive field When a packet including a first byte of 1additional data does not use an adaptive field

As illustrated in Table 4, if a value of the full packet flag 1 is 0, apacket including a first byte of additional data transmits theadditional data using an adaptive field. Conversely, if a value of thefull packet flag 1 is 1, a packet including a first byte of additionaldata transmits the additional data without using an adaptive field.

The “mode of primary service” in FIG. 6 represents mode information ofadditional data to be primarily processed. Specifically, the modeinformation may be illustrated as in Table 5:

TABLE 5 Size [sector (byte)] Turbo coding rate Mode information 0 —00000 4 (32) ½ 00001 4 (32) ⅓ 00010 4 (32) ¼ 00011 8 (64) ½ 00100 8 (64)⅓ 00101 8 (64) ¼ 00110 12 (96)  ½ 00111 12 (96)  ⅓ 01000 12 (96)  ¼01001 16 (128) ½ 01010 16 (128) ⅓ 01011 16 (128) ¼ 01100 32 (256) ½01101 32 (256) ⅓ 01110 32 (256) ¼ 01111 44 (352) ½ 10000 44 (352) ⅓10001 44 (352) ¼ 10010 Reserved 10011~11111

Though Table 5 only illustrates the size of additional data and thecoding rate, it is understood that the mode information may includeother information, such as the data rate.

The “full packet flag 2” in FIG. 6 represents whether an adaptive fieldappears in a last sector in a similar manner as illustrated in Table 4.The “reserved” in FIG. 6 is an area which is reserved for other uses.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a format of the mode informationaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, themode information is configured in the order of an SRS, a full packetflag 1, a full packet flag 2, a mode of primary service, an RS size ofprimary service, and a reserved (1 bit).

The full packet flag 1, the full packet flag 2, the SRS, the mode ofprimary service, and the reserved fields correspond to those in FIG. 6.If the SRS is only transmitted in a distributed format, the “distributedSRS flag” may be omitted as in FIG. 7, and the SRS may be shown usingTable 6:

TABLE 6 SRS Bytes per Packet Value  0 000 48 001 56 010 80 011 112  100Reserved 101~111

Furthermore, the “RS size of primary service” in FIG. 7 represents thesize of RS of additional data to be primarily processed, as illustratedin Table 7:

TABLE 7 Item Value RS (208,188) 0 RS (208,168) 1

The mode information as bit units, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, isconverted to symbol units by the field sync generator 310.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the field syncgenerator 310. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the RS encoder 420 adds an RSparity to mode information of 12 bits. If an RS(6,4) encoder of GF(8) isused as the RS encoder 420, the mode information becomes 18 bits afterRS encoding. Subsequently, the mode information is convolutional-encodedby the CV encoder 430. In this case, if 1/7 rate tail bitingconvolutional coding is performed, the mode information becomes 154bits. That is, if 4 tail bits are added to the mode information of 18bits and 1/7 convolutional coding is performed, mode information of 154bits is generated. The convolutional-encoded mode information isconverted into mode information of 154 symbols by going throughrandomization and symbol mapping. The symbol mapper 440 may performsymbol mapping using the following symbol map In Table 8:

TABLE 8 Value of bit Symbol 0 −5 1 +5

If the entire mode information cannot be inserted into a mode signalarea in a single field sync due to an insufficient size of the modesignal area, the MUX 220 can distribute the mode information in aplurality of field syncs. This will be explained below.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a frame of atransport stream to be transmitted by the digital transmission deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9, oneframe includes two fields, and one field includes one field sync segmenta or b that is a first segment, and 312 data segments. In a VSB dataframe, a single segment can contain the same amount of information as asingle MPEG-2 packet. That is, in the frame, one field sync packet a orb is added to each group of 312 packets. One segment, that is, onepacket includes a segment sync of 4 symbols, and 828 data symbols, andthus has 832 symbols in total.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a first field syncsegment a that is added to a first field in a frame of a transportstream. As illustrated in FIG. 10, a mode signal area is included in apredetermined area of the first field sync segment a. Although not shownin FIG. 10, a PN sequence (such as PN511 or PN63), or VSB modeinformation can be included.

In a conventional standard, a total of 104 symbols are defined as areserved area. In the digital transmission device according to anembodiment of the present invention, part of the reserved area is usedas a mode signal area to record the mode information. The size of themode signal area may be 77 symbols as shown, but the invention is notlimited thereto. Among the reserved area of 104 symbols, the last 12symbols are used as a pre-code area, and the 10 symbols preceding thepre-code area are used as a characteristic code area. In thecharacteristic code area, a code representing the characteristics of theadditional data (such as its version, provider, and an improvementformat identifier) is recorded.

If the additional data is inserted into diverse areas and have diversetypes, the size of the mode information may be too large to be expressedusing only 77 symbols. Accordingly, in the digital transmission deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, the modeinformation can be expressed using two or more field syncs. That is, themode information is divided and inserted into the two field syncs a andb in a single frame as illustrated in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a form of mode information distributedin the two field syncs a and b according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 11, the mode information of 154 symbols in total canbe distributed and recorded in first and second mode signal areas of 77symbols each. Consequently, mode information of diverse sizes can beprovided.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a digital transmission deviceaccording to another embodiment of the present invention, in which thedigital transmission device includes an adapter 510, a randomizer 515, astuffer 520, a derandomizer 525, an SIC processor 530, a plurality ofadditional data processors 540 and 550, a multi-stream datadeinterleaver 560, a randomizer 565, a supplementary reference signal(SRS) inserter 575, an RS encoder 580, a byte interleaver 585, an RSparity compensator 591, trellis-coded modulation encoder (TCM) 1 to TCM12 592-1 to 592-12, a MUX 593, a VSB modulator 594, and a poweramplifier 595.

The adapter 510 forms a space in a transport stream, and provides therandomizer 140 with the transport stream. The randomizer 515 randomizesthe transport stream. In this case, the adapter 510 may externallyreceive the mode information and form the space in a position designatedby the mode information.

The SIC processor 530 includes a randomizer 531, an RS encoder 532, anouter encoder 533, and an outer interleaver 534. If SIC data isexternally received, the randomizer 531 randomizes the received SICdata, and the RS encoder 532, the outer encoder 533, and the outerinterleaver 534 perform RS encoding, outer encoding, and outerinterleaving of the randomized SIC data in sequence. The SIC dataprocessed in this manner is provided to the multi-stream datadeinterleaver 560.

The plurality of additional data processors 540 and 550 receivecorresponding additional data streams. The processors 540 and 550include randomizers 541 and 551, RS encoders 542 and 552, timeinterleavers 543 and 553, outer encoders 544 and 554, and outerinterleavers 545 and 555. The plurality of additional data processors540 and 550 perform randomization, RS encoding, time interleaving, outerencoding, and outer interleaving of additional data that is externallyprovided, and provide the processed additional data to the multi-streamdata deinterleaver 560. Though two additional data processors 540 and550 are illustrated in FIG. 12, it is understood that the number ofadditional data processors can be 1 or more than 2 according to otherembodiments.

The multi-stream data deinterleaver 560 deinterleaves data provided bythe SIC processor 530 and the additional data processors 540 and 550 andprovides the stuffer 520 with the deinterleaved data. In this case, themulti-stream data deinterleaver 560 may insert the additional data intoa location set in the transport stream by the mode information andperform deinterleaving. The SIC data may always be inserted in a fixedlocation regardless of the mode. The stuffer 520 inserts the data intothe space in the transport stream. Consequently, the transport streamincludes the additional data inserted in a location defined by the modeinformation. The derandomizer 525 derandomizes the transport stream. InFIG. 12, a block including the adapter 510, the randomizer 515, thestuffer 520, the derandomizer 525, the SIC processor 530, the additionaldata processors 540 and 550, and the multi-stream data deinterleaver 560may be referred to as a MUX part.

The stream processed by the MUX part is provided to the randomizer 565for randomization. The SRS inserter 575 inserts an SRS into thetransport stream according to the mode information. It is understoodthat the SRS inserter 575 may be placed after the RS encoder 580 inother embodiments. Subsequently, the RS encoder 580 and the byteinterleaver 585 perform RS encoding and byte interleaving on thetransport stream including the SRS.

The byte-interleaved transport stream is provided to a trellis encoder.The trellis encoder includes the RS parity compensator 591, and the TCM1 to TCM 12 592-1 to 592-12. The RS parity compensator 591 transmits thetransport stream to the TCM 1 to TCM 12 592-1 to 592-12. The TCM 1 toTCM 12 592-1 to 592-12 perform trellis-encoding of the transport streamin sequence, using each internal memory. Therefore, initialization ofthe memories is performed before SRS processing. The RS paritycompensator 591 compensates a parity for a value modified byinitialization of the memories with an accurate value. The location ofthe parity may be changed if necessary. After trellis-encoding, the MUX593 multiplexes the trellis-encoded transport stream with a segment syncand a field sync. The field sync may be generated to include separatemode information before being provided to the MUX 593. The multiplexedtransport stream is modulated by the VSB modulator 594, is amplified tobe appropriate for transmission by the power amplifier 595, and istransmitted through an antenna.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a digital reception deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated inFIG. 13, the digital reception device includes a mode detector 700 anddata processor 800. The mode detector 700 receives a transport stream inwhich normal data and additional data are mixed, and detects modeinformation from at a field sync and/or a SIC included in the transportstream. The data processor 800 processes the transport stream using thedetected mode information.

The mode information may have been inserted into one or both of thefield sync and the SIC according to various embodiments of the presentinvention. If the mode information has been inserted into the fieldsync, the mode information detector 700 may be implemented as a fieldsync processor (not shown) that detects and processes the field sync. Ifthe mode information has been inserted into the SIC, the modeinformation detector 700 may be implemented as an additional dataprocessor (not shown) that detects and restores additional data and theSIC from the transport stream. If the mode information has been insertedinto both the field sync and the SIC, the mode information detector 700may be implemented as both a field sync processor and an additional dataprocessor. As described above, the mode information detector 700 can beconfigured as one or more components according to aspects of the presentinvention, while the remaining components of the digital receptiondevice other than the mode information detector 700 belong to the dataprocessor 800.

The mode information detector 700 detects the mode information andprovides the data processor 800 with the mode information. In moredetail, the mode information may be information used to processadditional data or a supplementary reference signal (SRS), and may be acoding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type of used errorcorrection code, primary service information of additional data, aninsertion pattern of the supplementary reference signal, informationregarding a size of the supplementary reference signal, information usedto support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the mode information, and/orinformation to support an IP service.

The data processor 800 receives and uses the detected mode informationin order to process the transport stream. More specifically, the dataprocessor 800 identifies the location of an SRS that is recorded in themode information, and detects and uses the SRS in order to performequalization or forward error correction (FEC). In addition, the dataprocessor 800 identifies the insertion pattern of the additional data,the data rate, and the data coding rate that are recorded in the modeinformation, detects the additional data in the identified location, anddecodes and restores the additional data. If the digital transmissiondevice has distributed and recorded the mode information in a pluralityof field syncs, the mode information detector 700 detects the modeinformation by combining mode signal areas provided in the plurality offield syncs.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of adigital reception device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the digital reception deviceincludes a synchronizer 910, an equalizer 920, an FEC processor 930, anadditional data processor 940, and a field sync processor 950. Theadditional data processor 940 and/or the field sync processor 950 maycorrespond to the mode information detector 700 in FIG. 13. For example,if the mode information is contained only in the field sync, the fieldsync processor 950 corresponds to the mode information detector 700, andthe additional data processor 940 corresponds to the data processor 800.Alternatively, if the mode information is contained only in the SIC, theadditional data processor 940 corresponds to the mode informationdetector 700, and the field sync processor 950 corresponds to the dataprocessor 800. Moreover, if the mode information is contained in boththe SIC and the field sync, the additional data processor 940 and thefield sync processor 950 jointly correspond to the mode informationdetector 700.

Referring to FIG. 14, the synchronizer 910 synchronizes the transportstream received through a wireless channel, and the equalizer 920equalizes the synchronized transport stream. The FEC processor 930performs forward error correction of the equalized transport stream. Theadditional data processor 940 processes the additional data stream inthe forward-error-corrected transport stream. In this case, theadditional data processor 940 may also process the SIC data in thetransport stream. Therefore, if the mode information is contained in theSIC data, the additional data processor 940 detects the additional datastream in a location defined by the mode information, and processes theadditional data stream. While not shown, if the mode information in theSIC data includes the insertion location and the insertion pattern ofthe SRS, the additional data processor 940 may provide the equalizer 920and the FEC processor 930 with this information.

Furthermore, the field sync processor 950 detects a field sync from thetransport stream. If the field sync contains mode information, the fieldsync processor 950 restores the mode information, and provides theequalizer 920, the FEC processor 930, and the additional data processor940 with the restored mode information. The field sync processor 950 maybe located after the equalizer 920 according to the implementation ofthe reception device.

The equalizer 920 and the FEC processor 930 detect the SRS from thetransport stream using information regarding the insertion location andthe insertion pattern of the SRS from among the mode information, sothat the SRS can be used for equalization and forward error correction.However, it is understood that in other embodiments, the SRS may not beused for forward error correction.

The additional data processor 940 detects the additional data in thetransport stream using the location of the additional data from amongthe mode information, and decodes the additional data appropriately.

In FIG. 14, the components are arranged such that the additional data isprocessed after FEC. That is, FEC for the entire transport stream isperformed. However, it is understood that in other embodiments, theadditional data may be detected from the transport stream such that theFEC is performed on only the additional data. Moreover, the FECprocessor 930 and the additional data processor 940 may be implementedin one block.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating the field sync processor 950according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.15, the field sync processor 950 includes a field sync DEMUX 951, a CVdecoder 952, an RS decoder 953, and a derandomizer 954. The field syncDEMUX 951 demultiplexes a mode signal area of field sync data in atransport stream. Accordingly, when the field sync data is detected, theCV decoder 952 performs convolutional decoding of the mode signal areaof the field sync data. The RS decoder 953 performs RS decoding of theCV-decoded data. The derandomizer 954 derandomizes the RS-decoded fieldsync data, and restores the mode information inserted in the mode signalarea of the field sync. Consequently, the restored mode information canbe used for processing the transport stream and the additional datastream.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating the field sync processor 950according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 16,the field sync processor 950 is implemented in the order of the fieldsync DEMUX 951, the derandomizer 954, the CV decoder 952, and the RSdecoder 953. Therefore, after the field sync data is demultiplexed anddetected, derandomization, CV decoding, and RS decoding are performed insequence.

Each component of the field sync processors 950 respectively illustratedin FIGS. 15 and 16 can be omitted or added depending on a method ofgenerating a field sync by a transmission device and an embodiment ofthe present invention, and the order thereof can also be modified.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a digital reception deviceaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. As illustratedin FIG. 17, the digital reception device includes a synchronizer 910, anequalizer 920, an FEC processor 930, an additional data processor 940, afield sync processor 950, and a controller 960. The controller 960outputs control signals to the equalizer 920 and the FEC processor 930using the mode information. The controller 960 may receive an input ofthe mode information processed by the additional data processor 940and/or the field sync processor 950. Alternatively, the controller 960may directly detect mode information from data processed by theadditional data processor 940 and/or the field sync processor 950.

In FIG. 17, the components are arranged in a way such that theadditional data is processed after FEC. That is, FEC for the entiretransport stream is performed. However, it is understood that in otherembodiments, the additional data may be detected from the transportstream such that the FEC is performed on only the additional data.Moreover, the FEC processor 930 and the additional data processor 940may be implemented in one block.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of theadditional data processor 940 applied to the digital reception deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated inFIG. 18, the additional data processor 940 includes a TCM decoder 941, aCV deinterleaver 942, an outer deinterleaver 943, an outer decoder 944,an outer interleaver 945, a CV interleaver 946, an RS decoder 947, and aderandomizer 948.

The TCM decoder 941 detects an additional stream from a transport streamoutput from the FEC processor 930, and performs a trellis decoding ofthe additional stream. The CV deinterleaver 942 performsCV-deinterleaving of the trellis-decoded additional stream. According tothe configuration of the transmission device, the CV deinterleaver 942may be omitted in the additional data processor 940. The outerdeinterleaver 943 performs outer deinterleaving, and the outer decoder944 decodes the additional stream so that a parity added to theadditional stream is removed.

In some cases, in order to improve the reception performance for theadditional data, the process from the TCM decoder 941 to the outerdecoder 944 may be repeated. For the repeated process, the data decodedby the outer decoder 944 goes through the outer interleaver 945 and theCV interleaver 946 to the TCM decoder 941. The CV interleaver 946 may beomitted in the additional data processor 940 according to theconfiguration of the transmission device.

The trellis-decoded additional stream is provided to the RS decoder 947.The RS decoder 947 performs RS decoding of the additional stream, andthe derandomizer 948 derandomizes the additional stream. Consequently,the additional stream data is restored.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream ina digital transmission device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 19, a space for inserting additionaldata is formed in a transport stream in operation S1000. The transportsteam containing the additional data in the space and mode informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data is generated inoperation S1010. The mode information may be inserted into a field syncand/or an SIC.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream bytransmitting mode information using a field sync according to anembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 20, atransport stream in which normal data and additional data are mixed isgenerated in operation S1110. Subsequently, a field sync including amode signal area is formed in operation S1120. In the mode signal area,mode information is recorded. The field sync can be configured asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 10. After the field sync isconfigured, a digital transmission device inserts the field sync intothe transport stream in operation S1130. In more detail, a single fieldsync can be inserted into every processing unit that is preset. In thiscase, mode information can also be distributed in a plurality of fieldsyncs as illustrated in FIG. 11. If the mode information is contained ina SIC, the mode information can be processed in the same manner as theadditional data.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream byinserting mode information into an SIC according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As illustrated in FIG. 21, a space for inserting theadditional data into a transport stream is formed in operation S1210,and the additional data and an SIC are processed in operation S1220. Itis understood that operations S1210 and S1220 may be performedsequentially or concurrently. The SIC including mode information isprovided from an external source, randomized, encoded, and interleaved.Detailed method of processing the SIC and the additional data is givenabove with reference to FIG. 12, so a description thereof is notrepeated here.

The processed SIC and additional data are inserted into the spaceprovided in the transport stream in operation S1230. Following thisprocess, the transport stream is formed. The formed transport streamgoes through randomization, encoding, interleaving, trellis encoding,and modulation, and is transmitted through a channel in operation S1240.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing a stream ina digital reception device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the method includes detecting modeinformation from a transport stream in operation S1300 and processingthe transport stream using the detected mode information in operationS1400. The mode information may be detected from a field sync or an SICof the transport stream.

In FIG. 22, it is assumed that the mode information is detected from afield sync. Accordingly, if the transport stream is received, a modesignal area of the field sync is demultiplexed in operation 81310. Thereceived transport stream includes normal data and additional data. Theadditional stream data may include various types of a plurality ofstream data that are provided by a plurality of providers. If data isdetected from the mode signal area of the field sync, the detected datais CV-decoded in operation S1320. Subsequently, the CV-decoded fieldsync data is RS-decoded in operation S1330 and randomized so that modeinformation is restored in operation S1340. The restored modeinformation may include the coding rate, the data rate, the insertionposition, the type of used error correction code, primary serviceinformation of the additional data, and/or the insertion pattern andinformation regarding the size of an SRS.

The SRS is identified based on the location identified using therestored mode information in operation S1410, and the transport streamis equalized using the identified SRS in operation S1420. Also, forwarderror correction of the equalized transport stream is performed inoperation S1430, and the additional stream is detected from thecorrected transport stream and decoded. As a result, the additional datais restored in S1440. Since these operations have been described above,a detailed description is not repeated here.

It is understood that, in other embodiments, the order of operations mayvary from that shown in FIG. 22. For example, derandomization (operationS1340) may be performed directly after demultiplexing (operation S1310).Furthermore, forward error correction (operation S1430) may be performedfor only the additional data stream from among parts of the transportstream. In addition, forward error correction (operation S1430) anddetection and restoration of the additional data (operation S1440) maybe performed concurrently or substantially concurrently. The SRS can beused for forward error correction (operation 81430) as well as forequalization.

Aspects of the present invention may be applied to a digital broadcastsystem. Although a few embodiments of the present invention have beenshown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A digital transmission device to process atransport stream comprising normal data, the digital transmission devicecomprising: a processor to generate the transport stream in whichadditional data is inserted into the transport stream, and to insertinformation representing characteristics of the additional data into asignaling channel of the transport stream, wherein the additional datais error-correction encoded before being inserted into the transportstream so that the additional data is more robust than the normal data.2. The digital transmission device of claim 1, wherein the processorcomprises: a field sync generator to generate a field sync including theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data; anda multiplexer (MUX) to multiplex the generated field sync with thetransport stream.
 3. The digital transmission device of claim 1, whereinthe processor comprises: a stuffer to insert the additional data and thesignaling channel including the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data into the transport stream.
 4. Thedigital transmission device of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises:a stuffer to insert the additional data and the signaling channelincluding the information representing the characteristics of theadditional data into the transport stream; a field sync generator togenerate a field sync including the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data; and a MUX to multiplex thegenerated field sync with the transport stream.
 5. The digitaltransmission device of claim 1, further comprising: a supplementaryreference signal (SRS) inserter to insert an SRS into the transportstream, wherein the information representing the characteristics of theadditional data is information used to process the additional dataand/or the SRS, and includes a coding rate, a data rate, an insertionposition, a type of a used error correction code, primary serviceinformation, an insertion pattern of the SRS, information regarding asize of the SRS, information used to support time slicing, a descriptionof the additional data, information regarding modification of theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data,and/or information to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.
 6. Thedigital transmission device of claim 2, wherein the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data is distributedand inserted in a plurality of field syncs.
 7. The digital transmissiondevice of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of additional dataprocessors to receive and separately process a respective plurality ofadditional data; and a stuffer to insert the plurality of processedadditional data into the transport stream.
 8. The digital transmissiondevice of claim 1, wherein the adaptor receives the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data and forms thespace in a position of the transport stream designated by the receivedinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data. 9.The digital transmission device of claim 1, further comprising: apre-processor to perform pre-processing the additional data to be morerobust than the normal data, wherein the pre-processing includes theerror-correction encoding, and wherein the processor generates thetransport stream in which the robust additional data is inserted. 10.The digital transmission device of claim 3, further comprising: apre-processor to perform RS encoding and/or interleaving of thesignaling channel including the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data, wherein the stuffer inserts theRS encoded and/or interleaved signaling channel including theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data intothe transport stream.
 11. A method for processing a transport streamcomprising normal data by a digital transmission device, the methodcomprising: generating, by the digital transmission device, thetransport stream in which information representing characteristics ofthe additional data, inserted into the transport stream, is insertedinto a signaling channel of the transport stream, wherein the additionaldata is error-correction encoded before being inserted into thetransport stream so that the additional data is more robust than thenormal data.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the generating of thetransport stream comprises: generating a field sync including theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data; andmultiplexing the generated field sync with the transport stream.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the generating of the transport streamcomprises: inserting the additional data and the signaling channelincluding the information representing the characteristics of theadditional data into the transport stream.
 14. The method of claim 11,wherein the generating of the transport stream comprises: inserting theadditional data and the signaling channel including the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data into thetransport stream; generating a field sync including the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data; andmultiplexing the generated field sync with the transport stream.
 15. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising: inserting a supplementaryreference signal (SRS) into the transport stream, wherein theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data isinformation used to process the additional data and/or the SRS, andincludes a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type of aused error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data, and/or information to support anInternet protocol (IP) service.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data isdistributed and inserted in a plurality of field syncs.
 17. A digitalreception device to receive a transport stream including normal data andadditional data, the digital reception device comprising: an informationdetector to detect information representing characteristics of theadditional data from a signaling channel of the transport stream; and adata processor to process the transport stream using the detectedinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data,wherein the additional data is error-correction encoded before beinginserted into the transport stream at a transmitter of the transportstream so that the additional data is more robust than the normal data.18. The digital reception device of claim 17, wherein the informationdetector detects information representing characteristics of theadditional data from a field sync of the transport stream, and restoresthe information representing the characteristics of the additional dataincluded in the field sync by demultiplexing the field sync andperforming an operation corresponding to a forward error correction(FEC) performed for the information representing the characteristics ofthe additional data by a digital transmission device from which thetransport stream is received.
 19. The digital reception device of claim18, wherein the data processor comprises: a synchronizer to synchronizethe transport stream; an equalizer to equalize the synchronizedtransport stream; a forward error correction (FEC) processor to performforward error correction of the equalized transport stream; and anadditional data processor to detect and restore the additional data fromthe forward error corrected transport stream based on a locationidentified by the restored information representing the characteristicsof the additional data.
 20. The digital reception device of claim 18,wherein the data processor comprises: a synchronizer to synchronize thetransport stream; an equalizer to equalize the transport stream; and aforward error correction (FEC) processor to detect the additional datafrom the equalized transport stream using the detected informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data, and to performforward error correction of the additional data.
 21. The digitalreception device of claim 17, wherein the information detector comprisesan additional data processor to detect and process the signaling channeland the additional data from the received transport stream, and todetect the information representing the characteristics of theadditional data from the detected and processed signaling channel. 22.The digital reception device of claim 17, further comprising: acontroller to detect a supplementary reference signal (SRS) included inthe transport stream based on the detected information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data.
 23. The digital reception deviceof claim 22, wherein the data processor comprises: an equalizer toperform channel equalization using the SRS; and a forward errorcorrection (FEC) processor to perform forward error correction using theSRS.
 24. The digital reception device of claim 22, wherein theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data isinformation used to process the additional data and/or the SRS, andincludes a coding rate, a data rate, an insertion position, a type of aused error correction code, primary service information, an insertionpattern of the SRS, information regarding a size of the SRS, informationused to support time slicing, a description of the additional data,information regarding modification of the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data, and/or information to support anInternet protocol (IP) service.
 25. The digital reception device ofclaim 18, wherein the information detector detects the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data by combiningmode signal areas formed in each of a plurality of field syncs of thetransport stream.
 26. The digital reception device of claim 17, whereinthe information detector detects the information representing thecharacteristics of the additional data from a field sync and thesignaling channel of the transport stream.
 27. The digital receptiondevice of claim 18, wherein the operation corresponding to the FECcomprises a convolutional (CV) decoding of the field sync data and aReed Solomon (RS) decoding of the CV-decoded field sync data.
 28. Amethod for processing a transport stream by a digital reception device,the method comprising: receiving, by the digital reception device, thetransport stream in which normal data and additional data are mixed;detecting, by the digital reception device, information representingcharacteristics of the additional data from a signaling channel of thereceived transport stream; and processing, by the digital receptiondevice, the transport stream using the detected information representingthe characteristics of the additional data, wherein the additional datais error-correction encoded before being inserted into the transportstream at a transmitter of the transport stream so that the additionaldata is more robust than the normal data.
 29. The method of claim 28,wherein the detecting of the information comprises detecting informationrepresenting characteristics of the additional data from a field sync ofthe received transport stream, and the detecting of the information fromthe field sync comprises: demultiplexing the field sync data in thetransport stream; performing convolutional (CV) decoding of the detectedfield sync data; performing Reed Solomon (RS) decoding of the CV-decodedfield sync data; and derandomizing the RS-decoded field sync data. 30.The method of claim 28, wherein the detecting of the informationcomprises detecting information representing characteristics of theadditional data from a field sync of the received transport stream, andthe detecting of the information from the field sync comprises:demultiplexing the field sync data in the transport stream;derandomizing the demultiplexed field sync data; performingconvolutional (CV) decoding of the derandomized field sync data; andperforming Reed Solomon (RS) decoding of the CV-decoded field sync data,so that the information representing the characteristics of theadditional data in the field sync is restored.
 31. The digital receptiondevice of claim 28, wherein the processing of the data comprises:synchronizing the transport stream; equalizing the synchronizedtransport stream; performing forward error correction of the equalizedtransport stream; and detecting and restoring the additional data fromthe —forward error corrected transport stream based on a locationidentified by the restored information representing the characteristicsof the additional data.
 32. The method of claim 28, wherein thedetecting of the information comprises: detecting the signaling channelfrom the received transport stream; and detecting the informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data from thesignaling channel by processing the signaling channel.
 33. The method ofclaim 28, further comprising: detecting a supplementary reference signal(SRS) from the transport stream based on the detected informationrepresenting the characteristics of the additional data.
 34. The methodof claim 33, wherein the information representing the characteristics ofthe additional data is information used to process the additional dataand/or the SRS, and includes a coding rate, a data rate, an insertionposition, a type of a used error correction code, primary serviceinformation, an insertion pattern of the SRS, information regarding asize of the SRS, information used to support time slicing, a descriptionof the additional data, information regarding modification of theinformation representing the characteristics of the additional data,and/or information to support an Internet protocol (IP) service.
 35. Themethod of claim 29, wherein the detecting of the information comprisescombining mode signal areas formed in each of a plurality of field syncsof the transport stream.